Tap-splitting machine



Oct. 28 1924.

J. F. DONNELLY ET AL TAP SPLITTING MACHINE Filed June 29,

1925 2 Sheets-Sheet. 1

ITUUSW/UOWJ/ jwzk 9. I) My Oct. 28. 1924. 1,513,377

J. F. DONNELLY ET AL TAP SPLITTING MACHINE Filed June 29. 1923 a Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented 0st. 2, lgd.

or as JOI-IN IE. IDONNELLY AND ERNEST S. JOHNSON, OF BBOCKTON, MASSACHUSETTS, AS-

' SIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO PANCO RUBBER COMP, GE GE 1' MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

TAP-SPLITTING MACHINE.

Application filed June 2a, 1923. Serial No. 648,519.

and ERNEST S. JoHNsoN, citizens of the United States, residing at Brockton, in the county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Tmprovements in Tap-Splitting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a machine for splitting taps for boots and shoes, 2. portion of the length of the tap being split in order that a piece of tape may be inserted therein;

It is the custom with certain styles of taps for boots and shoes which. are made of rubber or rubber composition, to split the said taps for a portion of their length from the rear end thereof, in order that a piece of tape or other reinforcing material may be inserted between the split' portions of the tap, so that when the tap is nailed to the shoe the nails will hold firmly 1n the tape and will not be pulled through the rubber when subjected to the usual strains of wear.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple accurate and easily operated machine for rapidly and'accurately splitting taps in the manner hereinafter set forth.

The invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts set forth' in the following specification and *articularly pointed out in the claims thereo Referring to the drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machinefor splitting ta s embodying our invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of tne same, partly broken away to save space in the drawings, and also illustrating a tap in position to be fed to the cutter.

Like numerals refer to like arts throughout the several views of the .rawings.

In the drawings, 5 is the frame of the ma chine. 6 is the cutter which-is fastened to a vertical shaft 7 rotatabl mounted in a bearing 8 in the frame of t e machine. The shaft f is rotated by a pulley 9 fast to the .upper end thereof and driven by a belt 10 which extends rearwardly therefrom over idler pulleys 11 and 12 and is driven in the usual manner by a pulley not shown in the drawings.

v A tap 13 is placed upon a slide-14 constitutin a holder and guided on ways 15 provideo upon the base 16 of the frame 5. Pins 17 are'provldedupon the slide 14 and pro-- ject upwardly into the tap 13 which is pressed downwardly thereon priorto being fed to the cutter. The upper surface of the slide 14 is provided with' coves 18 and water is fed to the cutter and to the tap by a pipe 19 in order to assist in the cutting operation and prevent the knife 6 from becoming heated. A reciprocatory'mortion is.

imparted to the slide 14 by a connecting rod 20 which is pivotally connected at one end thereof at 21 to a pair of d ownwardly dependlng ears 22 on the slide 14.v At the other end thereof said connecting 1m is piv-.

otally connected by a stud 23 to a gear 2L,

said stud constituting a crank pin... The gear 24 is rotated by a pinion 25 which is fastened to a shaft 26 rotatably mounted in ibis base 16 and driven by a pulley 27 and e t 28.

The tap is fed forward to the cutter 6 by I the slide 14 and is held firmly in position and pressed downwardly upon the table 14v by a pair of rolls 29 and 30. The roll 29 is an idler roll and is rotatably mounmd upon a stud 29. The roll 30 is fast to a shaft 30 and has feed projections 45 projecting from its periphery and adapted to engage the upper surface of thetap 13 during the feeding operation. The stud 29 is fast to a vertical slide 31 and the shaft 30 is rotatably -mounted in a vertical slide 32. The slides 31 and 32' are slidably mounted in bearings 33 and 34 provided on a head 35, which is fastened by bolts 36 to the frame of the machine. of the slides 31 and 32 are screw t readed to receive adjusting nuts 37 and 38 respectively. Springs 39, and -40 are rovld to force the slides 31 and 32 and t eirrespec- I tive rolls 29 and 30 downwardly against the tap 13 while it is being fed to the cutter.

A positive rotation is imparted to the shaft 30 and to the roll 30 to assist the slide 14 in feeding the tap to the cutter'byl a '---.i 46 fastened to the rear end of said s aft 30 and meshing intoa rack l? provided upon the slide 1 so that as the slide it is reciprocated, a rotary motion may be impa. to the gear 46, the shaftBO' and the roll 30.

In order to position the tap accuratelyv upon the slide, so that when it is fed forward to the cutter it may besplit for a por tion of its len h only, gen 7 s 41 and 42 are provided whic are screws to the top of the The u per ends I slide. The gauge 41 is so positioned upon the slide 14, that the straight rearend'd? of the tap shall rest thereagainst and one edge 44: of the tap will rest against the gauge 42.

The general operation of the mechanism hereinbefore specifically described is as fol-- lows ,1 The tap which is to be split is placed upon the slide 14 and thrust downwardly upon the projections 17. The slide 14' isthen fed forward toward the cutter 6 and carries the rear end of the tap 13 into engagement with said cutter. The tap is fed past the cutter 6 by the slide 14 and roll 30 and is slit along the broken li1'1eAz--A, Fig. 2,-gand is then removed from the slide which, uponits "return movement, is carried to the position illustrated in the drawings, ready to have another tap attached thereto. During the for ward movement of the slide, or while it is moving in the direction of the arrow 0, Fig. 2, the tap is engaged by the rolls 29 and 30 and. held firmly ressed against the upper surface of the slide 14 in engagement. with the projections 17 during the cutting o ation, whereby the tap, is accurately posltioned relatively to the cutter and is split midway between the upper and lower surfaces their/of. During the cutting operation, waterdrips upon the cutter and upon the tap from the pipe19 and runs from the tap and cutter along the grooves 18 and 0d of the machine In the drawings we have illustrated the projections 17 as consisting of pins inserted inlthe slide 14:, but it is evident that without departing from the spirit of this invention other rejections than pins may be em ployed,suc for example, as sharp V-shaped corrugations extending transversely of the upper surface of the slideltand intersecting the grooves 18, preferahly/atright-an- We cl :1

1. A machine for'splitting taps'having, in Y combination, a rotary cutter, a reciprocatiifg'slide for holding a tapand presenting it to the cutter in a plane parallel to the face of the cutter, a feed roll for engaging the tap on the side oppositeiro-m the slide, and connections i-between the slide andthe teed roll for positively rotating the latter.

2. A machine for splitting taps having, in

combination, a rotary cutter, a reciprocating holderhaving projections adapted to engage one side of the tap and to be moved toward the cutter to split the tap to a depth of out less than the length of the tap, a feed roll having projections adapted to engage the opposite side of the tap, and a rack and gear connection between the holder and feed roll for positively rotating the latter as the holder is moved.

3. A machine for splitting taps having, in combination, a rotary cutter, aslide constituting a holder adapted to position a tap in 3 a plane parallel to the face of the cutter and adapted to be reciprocated relatively to the cutter to splitthe tap, a feed rollengaging the side of the tapopposite from the slide,

and spring means for forcing the feed roll toward the tap.

4. A machine for splitting taps having, in combination, a rotary cuttena slide having projections adapted to engage'one side of the tap to feed the tap in a'plane parallel 

